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AKG C411 PP, contact mic, any experience?

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Comments

  • PierreGeePierreGee New
    Posts: 12
    Thanks for the update Craig, best of luck getting your order filled by B & H!
  • PierreGeePierreGee New
    Posts: 12
    I just checked the B&H listing for the C411-pp and they've hiked the price to $169. Craig, did they honor the original listing price ($129?) for your back order?

    This UK source appeared on Ebay:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/AKG-C411PP-Microphone-black-/180961958628#shId

    With shipping it comes to around $151 in US dollars. This source also offers a 7 day return policy.

    It's good to see my efforts to make the PP model available in the states are paying off, Full Compass is also now offering them for the same price as B&H.

    http://www.fullcompass.com/product/427133.html?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=googleps&gclid=CJXIxb3ssrICFYaDQgodGCwAJA

    I'm guessing Full Compass is sourcing the units same as B&H, thus actually getting them to ship product might be challenging.

    P
  • Craig BumgarnerCraig Bumgarner Drayden, MarylandVirtuoso Bumgarner S/N 001
    Posts: 795
    Mine is still on backorder, got another monthly robo-notice just the other day. No mention of a change of price, so I'm hoping they will hold the line on it. I don't mind waiting, I'm not desperate. Who knows, maybe they are making improvements.
  • Craig BumgarnerCraig Bumgarner Drayden, MarylandVirtuoso Bumgarner S/N 001
    Posts: 795
    I received this about a month ago and have used it twice. I haven't used it more often because my AT-831B mic is working for most gigs.

    It is not as good a sound as a mic, but it is pretty close. It sounds more acoustic than any pickup I have owned so far. The AKG is more sensitive to feedback than a mag pickup but substantially better in this regard than a mic. It picks up tapping and brusing noises on the top, but at the volumes where I am using the AKG, this doesn't seem to be a problem. Most importantly, the dynamic response is very good and I can play both rhythm and leads without wanting a volume control. With a mag or piezo pickup, I need a volume control like a Boss EQ-7 pedal, but with the AKG, I don't find myself wishing for it.

    Sound wise, I find it hard to describe. It is pretty good, just a little unnatural. Good enough to be my current next choice if a mic isn't working. I did push it to the point of feeding back last Friday. We were backed up against a huge glass wall in a big room, the worst. The feed back was not an out of control howl, more of a long sustain like one gets on a good solid body set up. Sounded kind of cool on leads, but not so good for rhythm. EQ fixed that quickly.

    Anyhow, for less than $150 delivered, I'd say it is a keeper. Very small and light. The PP version requires phantom power on the amp, but eliminates the need for the "little black box", so it is clean, easy to carry in the gigbag. I still keep my Krivo mag handy in case I need the highest volume possible, but so far, between the AT mic 90% of the time and the AKG, I haven't needed the mag.
  • PierreGeePierreGee New
    Posts: 12
    It's been a while since I've checked in, it appears that I'm no longer getting posting emails from this list, thus I missed your update Craig. Thanks for the report, glad you finally received your 411 and that you're impressed enough to keep it. Everything you shared makes sense to me. If you can get enough volume out of a mic, that will always sound best.

    Cheers!

    P
  • Craig BumgarnerCraig Bumgarner Drayden, MarylandVirtuoso Bumgarner S/N 001
    Posts: 795
    I've been using AKG on most gigs for the last couple months and I've been pretty happy with it. For rhythm it works very well. For leads, it is not quite acoustic, but close enough. It has good dynamic range and I have had no urge for a volume control when switching between rhythm and lead. Super easy to use. Just stick it on, plug it in.

    Last weekend, however, I did have a problem with distortion. A noisy bar gig required a lot more volume than I've tried before and chords were clearly distorting. It was not the amp which only about half way up and the singer in the second channel who was louder than me was crystal clear. I'm reasonably sure it was the AKG. I tried a couple different locations on the guitar, no difference. I tried switching to a mag pickup and that eliminated the distortion, but my mag pickup doesn't have an on-board volume control and I didn't have my pedal handy, so it was too loud for rhythm or not loud enough for leads. This what I call the dynamic range problem and it gets worse the louder I play.

    Anyhow, not a big deal as I seldom play this loud, but thought it would be worth mentioning. The good news is I was able to play very loud with AKG, with the amp right beside me, backed up against a big glass wall (the worst) and no feed back.

    Anyone playing the Ischell contact mic real loud? How does it hold up?

    CB
  • PierreGeePierreGee New
    Posts: 12
    Strange regarding the distortion you were getting, I've not experienced that with the 411. I have experienced the feedback you mention, yet that was in a situation where I was too close to the mains, with the 411's mixer channel gain set to an unreasonably high level. That's only happened once and I've played hundreds of gigs with the 411 on different instruments.

    Wonder if your amp's phantom power was struggling for some reason. Hopefully it's not a defective 411 element, that crumbles when channel volume is beyond a certain gain. There's also a chance that turning the 411 amp channel gain down and compensating for that drop by turning up the amp's master volume, will clean it up.

    Thanks again for sharing your experiences with the list!

    p
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